Countries Visited

    Australia
    Austria
    Bahamas
    Belgium
    Belize
    Bermuda
    Cambodia
    Canada
    Cayman Islands
    Costa Rica
    Czech Republic
    England
    Greece
    Guatemala
    Italy
    Japan
    Laos
    Malaysia
    Mexico
    The Netherlands
    Norway
    Singapore
    Spain
    Thailand
    United States
    The Holy See
    Vietnam

    Travel Goals

    1. Climb to Everest Base Camp.
    2. Climb Mt Kilimanjaro.
    3. Learn to Scuba Dive.
    4. Visit every continent.
    5. See the Galapagos Islands.
    6. Sail down the Amazon River.
    7. Climb Ayer's Rock.
    8. Travel on the Trans-Siberian Railroad.
    9. Go into space.
    10. Throw tomatos at La Tomintina in Spain.
    11. See the sunrise from Mt. Fuji.
    12. Try to figure out the Buddhist messages at Borobudor in Indonesia.
    13. Visit the Pyramids
    14. Safari in East Africa for 3 months.
    15. Go to the World Cup!
    16. See Macchu Picchu.
    17. Join the Century Club. (100 countries visited)
    18. Join the Mile High Club. (Hey why not?)
    19. Do development work in a 3rd world country.
    20. See Petra Jordan.
    21. Backpack the Eastern Block.
    22. Go back to Alaska and see the Northern Lights.
    23. Vegas Baby! Vegas!
    24. Greek Island hop.
    25. Cycle Tuscany.
    26. Visit India.
    27. Lounge forever in the Seychelles.
    28. See Morocco.
    29. Oktoberfest!
    30. Caravan across the Sahara.
    31. Visit Tibet.
    32. Go to the Cannes Film Festival.
    33. Go to the Sundance Film Festival.
    34. Eat a sushi meal at NOBU
    35. Pacific Island hop.
    36. Spend a night in the Ice Hotel in Sweden.
    37. Go to Israel.
    38. Carnival!!!!
    39. and it's slightly less cool cousin, Mardi Gras!
    40. See Glacier National Park before the glaciers melt.
    41. Fly first class on some long international flight!
    No Service Fees! Promo Code: NOFEE

Life in Bangkok: Thais at the….

May 15, 2007

Movies.
I saw Spider-Man 3. It was a fairly good movie. I had higher expectations though. The action in the movie was the best part. Out of the three movies, the action in this was the best but the story…not so much. They tried to pack too much into the movie- three villains, a love story, and an inner personal struggle. They didn’t really explore any of the plots well. They had some pretty unbelievable scenes and even more unbelievable resurrections with the villains. And the black Spidey! That could have been a whole movie unto itself. In the comics, it’s a huge story- in the movie its semi-minor subplot. They turn the character into a bad 70s movie character! Overall, I give it a C+. It’s worth seeing in the theaters but it’s a poor end to the series.

However, I’m looking forward to the rest of the summer! There are so many good movies coming out! There’s- Pirates 3, Fantastic Four 2, The Bourne Ultimatium, The Simpsons, Transformers, Knocked Up, Harry Potter, Oceans 13, and probably a few others I can’t remember right now. I’m going to be busy at the theaters and buying bootlegs on the street.

Seeing a movie in Thailand is an experience. If you thought they played a lot of commercials in America, come to Thailand. They have double the amount we do. It’s not like you can skip them because they mix in all the good previews with them. I saw this very strange commercial too. This old man is coughing and coughing and coughing. I’m thinking ok this is a anti-smoking ad. At the end of the commercial, they wheel the guy into the ER with his son yelling “dad, dad, dad” and it turns out the ad is for life insurance. Heavy ad for insurance! I wasn’t a big fan.

Moreover, right before the movie everyone stands up and pays respect to the King. Imagine standing up for the Queen or Bush? No one would do it! But the Thais love their King. (I’m going to explain their die hard love in another post.)

Finally, they have people come and take you to your seat (because here you have assigned seating, though you do get to pick your seat. Cool huh?). Also, the theater is posher than anything you could imagine (private lounges, a Starbucks, café), and you can rent couches to lie down on. Overall, seeing a movie here is more fun than back home….except coke and popcorns are all super-sized. Can’t a brother get a small!

Gym.

Working out is a pretty universal activity. There’s only one way to run, one way to bend your knee, one proper way to bench- proper workouts are universal. Or so you would think. I go to one of the big chain gym in Bangkok and when I rest between sets, I look around and watch the Thais workout. I’ve come to notice a few things you would never see in America. For instance, cell phones. Thais work out while talking on the phone or texting. They put the headset on and keep on talking no matter what the exercise. Thais love their cell phones. LOVE THEM. If you date a Thai or know a Thai, you can expect a plethora of text messages during the day and so this love follows them into the gym. I see Thai’s constantly sitting on machines just talking on the phone or if they are using a leg machine, working out while talking. In the states, you can’t talk out and workout at the same time- it’s a hazard but here? Just talk and pump it, talk and pump it!

Another thing I have noticed is how bad Thais work out. None of them have good form. None of them use the machines right. All of them put too much weight on. Most of them here hire private trainers and even they don’t teach the form right. The meatheads at my gym back home would be appalled! I keep seeing guys do double what they should do, woman barely do anything. I’ve noticed many farang (myself included) correcting Thais in their workout. I just don’t get how they can be so bad at it. It’s not rocket science!

Next week I start my new corporate job. I’m very excited about it. It will give me a more predictable schedule. I am going to start my Thai classes again. (That way I will actually understand what Amanda says to me!) I’ll have a better gym schedule and I’ll have some free time to teach private lessons on the side! All in all everything is awesome.

-Matt

Bangkok City Highlights

Illegal Bootleg Movie of the Week: Blades of Glory. The new Will Farrell movie was funny but it was no Talledega Nights. There was less product placement than in Talledega but also less hilarious moments. It was a good bootleg to watch and a good movie to rent, but I don’t know if I’d watch it in the theaters. It was pretty disappointing.

Posted by NomadicMatt | Filed Under First RTW | Leave a Comment 

Life in Bangkok

May 7, 2007

It’s been about two months since I’ve started working and I am already worn out. It’s going to be tough goings for the next 8 months. Come to think of it, it will be tough goings when I get home and have to do this for 40 years…..I shudder at the thought.

So I quit my job. Well, one of them. I am now just doing corporate training because that is where to make bank. The other job was nice and all the married English men (yes, of course to Thai wives!) were pleasant enough to talk to but the pay was shit. It would be fine if I was living here on a more permanent basis but when you are saving for another year of travel, you need an above average salary. Doing corporate training, I’ll make double and work less. As an added bonus, I no longer have to make my own lessons because the company provides everything!

I also have insomnia. Lately, I can’t fall asleep before 2 and I can’t wake up before 10, which makes those days when I need to be up at 8am really hard. I think it is from worrying. What do I have to worry about? The one thing we all worry about when we have nothing to worry about (or when we have a lot to worry about): money! I simply do not have enough. I need about 10k for the trip to India, Europe, the UK, and either Nepal or Fiji. Plus I need another 1500 for my trip to Japan in August. I need a 3-month visa and need to travel outside of Thailand to get one. Japan is a place I’ve never really seen so why not go there? Then there are all the little life things that pop up, plus visa costs, plus the fees I need to pay to send my money back to America. It all adds up. O and did I mention that I have about 3k in credit card debit that I accumulated due to…well, I’ll say bad financial management to be nice. So really, I have lots of expenses and little money to pay such expenses.

So I’ve been worrying about money lately especially my ability to manage my debt. I hate debt and I kick myself for getting into because now I have to figure out how to pay most of it off without having to come home early. Right now I’m looking at coming home with about half of it paid off. Cry for me Argentina.

Other than that on my mind, nothing much is going on right now. I lead a fairly typical working life. I wake up, I go to work, go to the gym, come home and sit on the internet, watch a movie, and repeat. It is much like my life back in America. I’m back in the working world now. (I don’t say real world because this mode of living isn’t so real. But that will be an upcoming post.) So that is about it for now. Sorry to bore you. I was going to include more stuff but I wanted to keep this short. I have a lot to talk about actually.

Bangkok City Highlights:

Restaurants of the Week: NONE.

Illegal Bootleg Movie of the Week: Little Children. This movie is a little known independent film starring Kate Winslet as a suburban housewife who hates her mundane life and finds excitement in an affair with another married man. It’s a good movie about taking charge of your life. (They use Madam Bouvarie as a metaphor throughout the movie.) Overall, I thought it was pretty good and worth a rental.

Mall of the Week: Siam Paragon. Talk about posh! I went to see Spider Man 3 here and I was blown away at how posh this place was. Bangkok has many, many upscale places but this is one of the most upscale. I heard it was upscale but surprised to see just how exactly upscale it is. There is free wi-fi, leather couches to sit on, and the information map is a touch screen computer. The stores all cater to a very rich and touristy clientele. Even the book store was expensive. But if you want trendy, expensive electronics, clothes, furniture, sports equipment or whatever- this is place to shop in Bangkok.

Posted by NomadicMatt | Filed Under First RTW | Leave a Comment